COMAL is a computer programming language

Programming language

A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

 developed in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 by Benedict Løfstedt and Børge R. Christensen in 1973.

The "COMAL 80 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE REPORT" contains the formal definition of the language.

Design

COMAL was actually created as a mixture of the prevalent educational programming languages of the time, BASIC and Pascal, and was meant to introduce structured programming

Structured programming

Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed on improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of subroutines, block structures and for and while loops - in contrast to using simple tests and jumps such as the goto statement which could...

 elements in an environment where BASIC would normally be used.

History

In the early 1980s, Apple Computer

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 won a contract to supply Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

 computers running CP/M

CP/M

CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...

 and COMAL to Irish secondary schools.

In 1990 Thomas Lundy and Rory O'Sullivan produced the definitive text on COMAL Programming. They matched and compared COMAL with BBC Structured Basic.

Availability

COMAL is available for:

• BBC Micro
  BBC Micro
  The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
  
  
• Commodore PET
  Commodore PET
  The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
  
   (public domain software
  Public domain software
  Public domain software is software that has been placed in the public domain, in other words there is absolutely no ownership of the intellectual property that the software represents....
  
  )
• Commodore 64
  Commodore 64
  The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
  
   (public domain software)
• Commodore 128
  Commodore 128
  The Commodore 128 home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines...
  
  
• Amiga
  Amiga
  The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
  
  
• Compis
  Compis
  Compis , Scandis was a computer system designed and sold to schools beginning 1984. Since it was intended for educational use, it received the name Compis, which is short for COMPuter In School. The name can also be interpreted as a pun on the Scandinavian word kompis, meaning friend or pal...
  
  
• Scandis
• CP/M
  CP/M
  CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
  
  
• IBM PC
  IBM PC
  The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
  
  
• Tiki 100
  Tiki 100
  Tiki 100 was a desktop home/personal computer manufactured by Tiki Data of Oslo, Norway. The computer was launched in the spring of 1984 under the original name Kontiki 100, and was first and foremost intended for the emerging educational sector, especially for primary schools...
  
  
• ZX Spectrum
  ZX Spectrum
  The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
  
  
• Mac OS X
  Mac OS X
  Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
  
  
• Grundy NewBrain
  Grundy NewBrain
  The Grundy NewBrain was a microcomputer sold in the early 1980s by Grundy Business Systems Ltd of Teddington and Cambridge, England.- Beginnings :...
  
  

Examples

Conditions:

IF condition THEN
instructions
ENDIF

Loops:

FOR number:= 1 TO 1000 DO
PRINT number
ENDFOR
Print statements with variables:

INPUT "Whats your favourite number..." :nmr%
CLS
PRINT "Your favourite number is " ; nmr%

"Hello, world!"

10 PAGE
20 FOR number:= 1 TO 10 DO
30 PRINT "HELLO, WORLD!"
40 ENDFOR
50 END " "

External links

• OpenComal – an Open Source implementation of COMAL for UNIX, MS-DOS and Windows
• MacharSoft
• Description of COMAL, versions, and characteristics
• Annotated Bibliography of the COMAL language
• Implementation of COMAL for Mac OS X "Comal 2"
• COMAL ARCHIVES FOR THE CBM / PET and THE C64